DETROIT (Reuters) - Protests from seven safety groups prompted General Motors Corp. to pull a television ad that shows a young boy driving a Corvette sports car so recklessly that it goes airborne, officials of the automaker said on Wednesday.

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The ad, featuring the Rolling Stones song "Jumpin' Jack Flash," has aired repeatedly during the Olympics. The groups, including Consumers Union and the Center for Auto Safety, complained that it was "the most dangerous" spot they have seen in recent years.

Directed by singer Madonna (news - web sites)'s husband Guy Ritchie, the spot shows a boy's daydream of racing the Corvette through downtown streets and through a construction pipe. The safety groups said in a letter to GM released on Wednesday that the spot could encourage children to take their parents' cars for a drive.

"This ad is certainly among the most dangerous, anti-safety messages to be aired on national television in recent years," the safety groups said in a joint letter sent to GM Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner. "It is doubtful that General Motors would condone the beer industry showing a "dream sequence" of 10-year-old children having an after-school "kegger,"" the letter said.

The ad does include a warning that drivers should operate the vehicle safely and must have a license, but the automaker decided to stop airing the spot, GM spokesman Joe Jacuzzi said on Wednesday.

"We decided to pull it due to responses and feedback we received," Jacuzzi said. "It's a big ad, and it's been airing for a while, but we've got a whole campaign."

The Corvette ad is one of many spots GM prepared for the Summer Olympics (news - web sites). GM is the largest television advertiser during the Summer Games, spending 10 times more during the Aug. 13-29 Olympics than it typically spends during a comparable period.

The seven groups who signed the letter include Consumers Union, Public Citizen, Center for Auto Safety, Consumer Federation of America and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.

Groups have also protested controversial ads or marketing campaigns from other automakers in recent years.

Ford Motor Co. was targeted when an ad showing a cat poking its head through the sunroof of the SportKa, only to be decapitated when the roof closes, found its way onto the Internet. But that spot, which Ford said it never authorized and never aired, is still shown on the Internet, where it has created a buzz.

Chrysler pulled its sponsorship of the "Lingerie Bowl," which featured models in scanty outfits playing football and aired during halftime of the Super Bowl in February.

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that was a good ad and these groups are a bunch of pansies
and that kid could drive

It was so much better than those SHITTY dodge magnum ads where the dude is dreaming of driving slightly vigorously. Nobody wants to see pointdexter fagwad driving according to the laws set down by THE MAN. We want to see tire-shredding motorized MAYHEM dammit!

It was so much better than those SHITTY dodge magnum ads where the dude is dreaming of driving slightly vigorously. Nobody wants to see pointdexter fagwad driving according to the laws set down by THE MAN. We want to see tire-shredding motorized MAYHEM dammit!

Consumers Union, Public Citizen, Center for Auto Safety, Consumer Federation of America and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.

As much as we didn't like the Corvette commercial for the reasons stated above, the fact that GM is pulling the commercial because of protests by seven safety groups is absolutely ridiculous.

The groups complained that it was "the most dangerous" spot they have seen in recent years, according to a Reuters report. The groups, part of the virulent anti-car, anti-Detroit intelligentsia, sent a joint letter to GM chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner, decrying that the ad "...is certainly among the most dangerous, anti-safety messages to be aired on national television in recent years." The letter also said that "It is doubtful that General Motors would condone the beer industry showing a 'dream sequence' of 10-year-old children having an after-school 'kegger.'"

We thought the commercial lacked substance and a creative idea befitting the stature of the Corvette, but it's also clearly a fantasy. The fact that these vermin - who hide behind the premise of protecting all of us for our own good and who actively promote the concept of "no accountability," suggesting that ultimately, no driver is responsible for his or her actions when behind the wheel, but instead that the automakers are always to blame - would crawl out of the woodwork and force GM to pull the spot is unconscionable.

GM should pull the spot because it fails to do the car justice - not because of the bleatings of a bunch of crackpot safety groups, who conveniently hide behind the notion of "the common good" but who do nothing to positively contribute to the debate.